Merry Christmas 2010!

As you can see, no Christmas is complete without Yoda , and a unicorn and monkey pillow pet under the tree. The kids had a great christmas, and was a ton of fun for Hannah. Drew really had no clue what we going on, but really enjoyed getting into Hannah's toys and a few of his own.

Drew got an adorable Gator jersey from Aunt Andrea and he was literally gasping for air, shaking and jumping up and down when he saw it. He was yelling "gator, gator" and thought it was really cool to look like dad. He was also enjoying his new xylophone from Santa too.

And here is Hannah, oh wait, Princess Rapunzel. She begged and begged Santa for Rapunzel hair. Once she put it on and realized the hair was in her face she said she didn't want it anymore.. go figure.

And the gift from Mom and Dad was in the basement. Hannah and Drew got a jump start trampoline. The both absolutely loved it. Drew was jumping and jumping all day long.

While Hannah was opening her presents, she says " how did everyone know exactly what I wanted?" All with excitement. She had a great day, and it was fun for mom and dad to watch. We are already looking forward to next year so Drew join more of the fun. And using the secret weapon of "santa is watching" all the time has proven to work for better listening to mom and dad too. Not sure if we can use that one with the Easter Bunny or not?

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and healthy Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve 2010!

Tonight we went to Macy's to walk through "A day in the life of an Elf". Both Hannah and Drew loved it so much we went through twice. And the great thing about going on Christmas Eve, we were almost the only people there. Hannah loved watching all the Elves.... and got really excited when she saw the part with all the letters that have been mailed to Santa.

And Drew, well he likes about anything. He did loved watching the section with the polar bear, pig, donkey and dog. Anytime he saw a dog he was sure to yell "puppy".

And tonight we had a great family night. Hannah and Dad make cookies for Santa. While they were doing that, Mom was giving Drew a bath. We came down the stairs and Drew immediately yelled "cookie, cookie, cookie". He didn't stop saying that until his tummy was pretty full. When I would say "No more cookies Drew, all done". He would squint his eyes into a pouty look, it was pretty comical.

And when they finally went to bed, after a really long fun day of baking cookies, dancing to jingle bell music and seeing the elves... the bigger elves went to work. Cookies are eaten, stockings are stuffed and Santa has arrived.

We are really looking forward to tomorrow morning as Hannah is just so excited, it has been really a lot of fun this year. When I told her that Santa doesn't come until she is asleep she asked when she could go to bed??! She was in bed by 7:45pm tonight... a miracle. She generally doesn't go to sleep until 8:30-9:00pm. I read her a book and then she asked how many more minutes until Santa came. I said a whole lot of minutes, not until the first number on her clock is at 7 (for 7am, at this time it was about 8:10). She said "ok, I will just watch it until it hits 7 again". Sure thing Hannah... sweet dreams.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Tonight we went to go visit Santa Claus. Hannah has been SO excited to see him. You can tell by her expression is she pretty excited, and Drew is pretty concerned. At least there were not any meltdowns, could had been worse. She walked right up to him and let him know when wanted all kinds of Barbie stuff and that she was going to be a good girl.

A little pre-Santa photo op in front of our tree.

And before bed tonight Hannah and Drew were having a great time with Rudolph and Clarice, their new friends.

Merry Christmas, 12 days and counting...

Blizzard of 2010

What do you do in Minnesota when you are snowed in? Brace yourself for a long day with the kids and think of of fun things you can do without leaving the house. With 20 inches on the ground, and Todd and I pulling our hair out at the end of the day, we did end up accomplishing a few things on the to do list. Hannah and I made our 3rd annual gingerbread house where she ate almost half the candy then complained of a tummy ache...

Drew ran around the house like a crazy man as always, never stops for a minute. Check out the snow behind him... and that is why we didn't leave the house...

And finally we wrote our letters to Santa. Hannah is asking Santa for a Barbie car, Barbie swimming pool, and another Barbie... I think there is a theme there. She promises Santa to have a good attitude.

And little Drew man did his own coloring on his letter, he is asking for a monkey pillow pet and a new truck, he is a simple little guy.

Today we were finally able to leave the house again, and drive through the neighborhood that looks like a white tunnel. Ahh.. minnesota winter!

The Big Top Gymnastics Competition

Hannah getting her first medal...

Our gymnast!

Today was Hannah's big day she has been looking forward to. The "Big Top Competition" at her gymanstics place. The kids had a great time. There were 6 groups that rotated through all the little things to do. She went on the balance beam, bars, trampoline, tumbled on the mats, and giggled with a lot of other little girls. It was fun to watch, and most importantly Hannah had a great time. Drew was out of control... Mom spent 90% of the time chasing after him in a separate gym that no one was in. He got some enery out himself, and Mom was more tired than the both of them combined by the end.

Congrats to Hannah !!! She did great today!